Chapter Two
After Beast Boy has finished the second bowl of soup - the one originally meant for Raven - he begins flipping sullenly through the TV channels.
"I recognize that cooking show. You're back at the beginning again, BB," says Cyborg, who is lounging beside him.
"Yeah well, maybe something's changed since five minutes ago," he mumbles.
Cyborg groans. "Alright, I've had it. Whaddaya say we watch a movie?"
Beast Boy shrugs, and unconsciously reaches up to scratch his shoulder. Cyborg slaps his hand and, ignoring Beast Boy's exclamation, he gets up from the couch.
"Ah, it'll be fun. I'll go see what I can dig up."
As Cyborg nears his room, he is puzzled to hear faint music. When he arrives at the door, he can distinctly hear clamorous rock music playing from inside his room.
"That's strange," he says to himself, "I didn't leave anything on. Wait a minute, that isn't even my music!"
As the door slides open, Cyborg is greeted by a wall of blaring noise, making him cringe. The familiar lights of many computer panels shines around him, and the flickering bars of the decibel counter on his main computer screen match the tempo of the music. Its speakers vibrate from the volume.
"Geez!" he exclaims, covering his ears and reaching for the volume buttons.
He clicks. Nothing happens.
"Aurgh!" Cyborg snarls in frustration, "Alright, it was a funny joke, but this is going too far!" He starts tapping on the control panel to cut off the music manually, muttering under his breath about doing painful things to "the little green lintball".
Suddenly, a corner of the screen begins to flash.
"What the — ?" Cyborg exclaims, then realizes what the flashing means.
Simultaneous to this realization, the music abruptly cuts out, and Cyborg's world goes black.
Beast Boy sighs and coughs as he passes the same soap opera for the fifth time. What's sad is that he actually knows what's going on. This blond girl just broke up with her boyfriend, who was cheating on her with her sister ...
"Dude, where's Cyborg?" he wonders aloud, "He can't have that many movies."
"Who is missing?" Starfire asks, strolling in with a thermometer.
"Cyborg. He went to get a movie like twenty minutes ago."
"I did not realize the selection of a movie required that much time," she says, coming to sit next to the changeling, "Say 'aha'!"
"It's 'ah', Starf — " Beast Boy starts to say, before she jams the thermometer into his mouth.
"Now don't bite it," she cautions apparently having a delightful time playing nurse, "I shall find Cyborg and help him choose a movie."
She pushes off from the couch and zooms out of the room.
Finally alone, Beast Boy glances around and tentatively scratches his side.
"Cyborg?" Starfire calls, as she stands in front of his door getting a feeling of deja vu.
As before, there is no answer.
Hesitantly, Starfire opens the door and steps into the dimly lit room. Computer panels blink and flash at her, making faint beeping noises, and the whirr of hardware hums through the floor. She scans the room, but finds herself alone.
"Perhaps he has gone to collect unhealthy junk foods, as is part of the ritual," she muses, and turned to go.
Someone tall is standing silhouetted in the doorway.
Starfire gasps and instinctively jumps back. "Cyborg, is that you?" she asks.
Instead of replying, the figure leaps from the doorway towards the slender Tamaranian.
Ducking out of the way, Starfire unleashes her starvolts. One misses, but the other hits the attacker in the side. He grunts in pain and stumbles against a control panel. Starfire rounds on the intruder in midair for another volley, and finally gets a look at him - only to find his body covered by a black bodysuit and his face with a mask that is half black and half red.
"Who are you, and what have you done with Cyborg?" Starfire demands, starvolts crackling in her hands.
Uncharacteristically, the stranger laughs dryly. "You shall see - quite soon!" he rasps, and, using the panel as leverage, he ducks into the shadow behind the computer. Starfire throws her starvolts, but too late. She flies around the computer in pursuit, but finds no one ... and no apparent means of escape.